I don't remember which was Bobbins but my luncheonette was across J from the bank. They had dinner specials that were actually cheaper if you ordered everything separately.

Great article. I especially appreciated the debunking of the 'mythicalness' of the drink. Hey, it IS possible that you just don't like egg creams. Also try a local diner: Floridian, Mirage, the Arch, El Greco (look them up). The casualness, rather than the specialness, of fountain service and other elements seems to live on only in the large Greek diners. Anywhere else its either nostalgic or hip.

BTW, not to be an apostate, but egg creams and the like are really not just a Brooklyn thing. It's a new yawk thing.

Yeah, I don't think this place is so hot. It tries (and actually succeeds) to look like a down-home / "authentic" / cheap chicken joint. But the main event is just OK. You can get good chicken anywhere. And elsewhere for great chicken. It does try a little too hard, and heightens your expectations. If I just came upon it without hearing about it first it would be a nice neighborhood find. But all the buzz left me wanting more.

-----
Pies 'n' Thighs
166 S 4th St, Brooklyn, NY 11211

I apologize in advance, but If a bunch of bakers have a competition, it's called a bake-off. What's it called when a bunch of soda jerks compete?

I don't remember the name. Might be Bobbins. It was on the corner where the Pathmark is (was?). It was run by 2 Israeli guys at the time, but was a totally stereotypical luncheonette if its day (mid-70's), when high-school kids would get an egg cream in a glass through the window and drink it while standing on the sidewalk.

Yeah, I'm not going to get into an argument about proper technique, but I make them about the way he showed in the video and have been doing so for the last 35 years since I worked in a luncheonette on Avenue J and Coney (long closed). But I use pressurized seltzer (as you should) bounced off the back of a spoon. This dissipates the force of the stream. You want your stirring action to create the head, not the pour of the seltzer. That would produce bubbles too large. Instead, stirring rapidly and with a certain wrist action creates tight, foamy bubbles that makes for a proper creamy drink.

It might be the name. The place sounds great! But the name is actually kind of offensive to me and made me lose interest until I read your review. Maybe I'll check it out.

Agree with all comments! Though I do happen to like vanilla. I was watching an episode of "Naked City" (anyone remember that?) some years ago and a cop was bringing a runaway to a lunch counter for a soda. The counter guy said "We got a new thing today, vanilla egg cream!"

BTW, I did a search for the Brio siphon just out of curiosity and came up blank. I do get old-fashioned selzer delivered, for about $2.50/bottle. Pricey but worth it.

A REAL egg cream? Before a future diner owner can emigrate from Greece, they test them on just such a concoction. Try El Greco, the Floridian, the Mirage, Vegas, the Arch, etc.

Yes, you need pressurized seltzer. Bottled will not do. Just before egg creams ceased to be a very common drink and turned nostalgic (mid-80's?) some purveyors started to offer strawberry egg creams. Yuk!

I hope the original poster got to take his friend to get an egg cream. That was 3 years ago!

Pretty much all diners in Brooklyn still make egg creams. Mangia77: Too true, I don't know of any authentic luncheonettes. Maybe there's 1 or 2 left. And some of the newsstands near train stations still make them, believe it or not.

True story: I was at El Greco's in Sheepshead Bay a few years ago. A friend wanted an egg cream. The waiter said they don't make them anymore. He knew what it was but it wasn't on the menu. We cajoled him until he finally relented. Next time we came back, it was back on the menu.